Monday, June 23, 2008

Last week Coldplay's new album went straight to No 1with sales in excess of 300,000 copies. This is some achievment in just three days, but on top of that they also sold out a string of concerts and had huge iTunes coverage. In short, things were going fairly swimmingly.

Swimmingly didn't last long though. Just as suddenly as Viva La Vida soared, the band were hit with potentially crashing news. A small band called the Creaky Boards has launched a plagiarism suit against the band for their title track,which the boards claim has elements stolen from a track of theirs entitled 'The Songs I Didn't Write'.

Andrew Hoepfner, the Creaky Boards' singer and songwriter, has posted a video on YouTube, comparing the two tracks, which do have very similar sounds. Unfortunately the claims made by Hoepfner, that Chris Martin attended a Creaky Boards concert in New York last year have been completely refuited the band's spokesman Murray Chalmers.

"First, on the night in October when the band say Chris Martin was watching them, he was actually working at the Air Studio in London, and we can prove that. Second, even if he had been at the gig, "Viva la Vida" was written and demoed seven months before the night in question, so it couldn't possibly have been copied." . "We were flattered when we thought we saw Chris Martin in the crowd," said Mr Hoepfner. "He seemed pretty into it... Maybe TOO into it?"

Unfortunately Hoepfner's clip rapidly went viral and has already attracted nearly 430,000 views!, and although Coldplay have said they will not persue legal action against the Boards, this bad press could potentially cause serious damage to the bands reputation.

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Digitology is primarily a dissection of digital culture. Here you'll find everything from the latest digital marketing news to information on new and innovative digital products. Although based in Dublin, the blog draws on the entire cyber collective, with insights into both domestic and international developments. However, you may also find posts on some of the other things I love in life like food, art, events etc.

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